Current Affairs Update – 27 December, 2016

Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the important Current Affairs of 27 December, 2016. These are important for the upcoming RBI Assistant Mains, IPPB PO Mains, NIACL AO Mains and RBI Assistant Mains 2016-17.

Current Affairs at a Glance – 27 December, 2016

A high powered panel to recommend measures
to boost digital payments has called for a Payments Regulatory Board
and has also urged the government to accept and promote such payments. The
committee, chaired
by Ratan Watal, special adviser NITI Aayog and former Finance
Secretary, has suggested that the regulation of payments should be made
independent from the function of central banking by the Reserve Bank of India.
The Board for Regulation and Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems
should be given a statutory status over the next 30 days.

India has signed an agreement
with Bhutan
for assistance in green and sustainable construction of infrastructure in the
Himalayan kingdom.

India’s first Digi Dhan Mela was held on 26
December 2016 in Gurugram, Haryana. The mela is a first of its
exercise in the country and is meant to promote cashless transactions in the
post-demonetisation period.

Union Minister for Water
Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti on 26 December
2016 released the
funds of Rs 1981 crore for Polavaram
irrigation project to Andhra Pradesh Chief
Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

The Madhya Pradesh Cabinet has
approved the detailed
project reports (DPRs) of the Metro rail projects for Bhopal and Indore,
costing ₹14,485.55 crore.

The foundation stone ceremony for
setting up the first
Second Generation (2G) Ethanol Bio-refinery in India was held on 25
December 2016 at village Tarkhanwala, Bathinda in Punjab.

The government of Haryana on 25 December
2016 connected 100 villages in the state with Wi-Fi services. It also decided to rename all common service
centres (CSC), which have been opened in urban and rural areas, and E-disha
centres as ‘Atal Seva Kendras’ at district headquarters.

The Delhi government has decided
to reduce the fares of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster
buses by almost 75%, starting 1 January 2017.

The Department of Posts under the
Union Ministry of Communications on 26 December 2016 released the special stamp
on freedom fighter Gaya Prasad Katiyar.

A high powered panel to recommend
measures to boost digital payments has called for a Payments Regulatory Board
and has also urged the government to accept and promote such payments.

“The vision of the committee is
to set a roadmap for digital payments to grow substantially over the next three
years from the current level of about five percent of personal consumption and
twenty per cent of all transactions,” said the report of the Committee on
Digital Payments.

It also wants to halve India’s
cash to GDP ratio from 12 per cent to 6 per cent over the next three years.

The Finance Ministry has sought
comments from the public on the report in the next 15 days and indications are
that some of its recommendations would find a place in the Union Budget
2017-18.

The committee, chaired by Ratan
Watal, special adviser NITI Aayog and former Finance Secretary, has suggested
that the regulation of payments should be made independent from the function of
central banking by the Reserve Bank of India. The Board for Regulation and
Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems should be given a statutory
status over the next 30 days.

It has also said that the
Government should promote digital payments and receipts by adopting digital
payments for all its needs and withdrawing all charges levied by departments
and utilities on digital payments and bear the cost of such transactions.

It has also called for mandating
government departments and agencies to provide option to consumers to pay
digitally as well as incentivise consumers to make payments (including payment
of fines and penalties) to Government electronically by giving a discount or
cash back.

To protect consumer interests, it
has also called for updating the current Payments and Settlements Systems Act,
to include explicit mandates for data protection and security, regulatory
governance and consumer protection including penalties and independent appeal
mechanism.

Further, payment systems like RTGS
and NEFT should also be updated to ensure that they work on a 24×7 basis.

The committee has also called for
promoting Aadaar based eKYC and paperless authentication including in cases
where Permanent Account Number has not been obtained. It said this should be
done over the next 60 to 90 days and pursued actively by the Finance Ministry,
RBI, UIDAI and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Mobile number and Aadhaar based
fully inter-operable payments should be prioritised and the National Payments
Corporation of India should enable this on its platforms over a period of 60
days.

India, Bhutan sign MoU for green construction

India has signed an agreement
with Bhutan for assistance in green and sustainable construction of
infrastructure in the Himalayan kingdom.

According to a statement, an MoU
was signed between Central Public Works Department (CPWD), under India’s
Ministry of Urban Development and the Department of Engineering Services, under
Bhutan’s Ministry of Works and Human Settlements for the purpose in Thimpu.

“Under the MoU for bilateral
technical cooperation in infrastructure engineering, CPWD will assist in
promoting sustainability in the built environment, capacity building through
training of Bhutanese manpower, bench-marking in building and road sectors
besides deputing engineering experts to Bhutan,” said the statement.

India’s first Digi Dhan Mela held in Gurugram to promote cashless
transactions

India’s first Digi Dhan Mela was
held on 26 December 2016 in Gurugram, Haryana. The mela is a first of its
exercise in the country and is meant to promote cashless transactions in the
post-demonetisation period.

It educated the people on how to
use mobile phones and AADHAR for making payments online.

Dedicated counters were set up to
issue AADHAR cards.

In the mela, 15000 winners of the
Lucky Grahak Yojana daily reward were also drawn.

The winners were being identified
through a random draw of the eligible Transaction IDs which are generated
automatically as soon as the transaction is completed by software developed by
National Payments Corporation of India.

Union Minister for Water
Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti on 26 December
2016 released the funds of Rs 1981 crore for Polavaram irrigation project to
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

These funds were issued by
the National Bank for Agriculture and
Rural Development (NABARD). Other than Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra
were also sanctioned 463 crore and 830 crore rupees respectively.

It is a multi-purpose project
with an assessed Cultural Command Area of 2.91 lakh hectares and power
generation potential of 960 Mega Watt(MW) .

It also has a provision to supply
23.44 thousand Million Cubic Feet (TMC) of water as drinking water supply to
Vishakhapatnam city and other areas.

An inter basin transfer of 80 TMC
water annually to Krishna River Basin was also envisaged.

The project was given investment
clearance by the Planning Commission of Rs 10151.04 crore in 2009. The current
cost of the project at 2010-11 level is Rs 16010.45 crore.

The project was under
construction with Central Assistance under Accelerated Irrigation Benefits
Programme (AIBP).

Madhya Pradesh Cabinet approves DPR for Metro rail in Bhopal, Indore

The Madhya Pradesh Cabinet has
approved the detailed project reports (DPRs) of the Metro rail projects for
Bhopal and Indore, costing ₹14,485.55
crore.

“The state Cabinet, chaired by
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, today approved the DPRs for the development
of the Metro rail projects in Indore and Bhopal. These projects would
cumulatively cost ₹14,485.55
crore,” Public Relations Minister Narottam
Mishra told reporters after the Cabinet meeting here this morning.

The state and Central governments
would provide ₹2,897.10
crore each. The remaining ₹8,691.35
crore would be arranged through loan from multilateral/ bilateral funding
agencies.

Two Metro corridors of 27.87 km
will be laid in Bhopal. The first corridor of 14.99 km will be from Karond to
AIIMS (Saket Nagar). The second corridor of 12.88 km will be from Bhadbhada
Square to Ratnagiri.

There will be one corridor of
31.55 km from Rajwada to Nainod in Indore.

Mishra said work on the projects
in both the cities will begin in the next financial year.

The approximate investment for
setting up of the refinery is Rs 600 crores.
The project will be set-up by the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation
Limited (HPCL).

The production of 2G Ethanol from
agricultural residues is encouraged to provide additional sources of remuneration to farmers, address the growing
environmental concerns and support the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme
for achieving 10 per cent Ethanol Blending in Petrol.

Key highlights

The proposed Bathinda
bio-refinery will be utilizing agriculture residues for production of 100 KL
per day or 3.20 crore litres per-annum of ethanol. This per-annum production
may be sufficient to meet the 26 per cent of the ethanol blending requirement
of the Punjab.

With the setting up of the
bio-refinery, employment for about 1200 -1300 persons will be generated in the
biomass supply chain. It will also generate an additional income of
approximately Rs 20 crores per annum for the farmers through purchase of their
agriculture residues.

India –

Wi-fi services to be provided in 100 Haryana villages

The government of Haryana on 25
December 2016 connected 100 villages in the state with Wi-Fi services. It also
decided to rename all common service centres (CSC), which have been opened in
urban and rural areas, and E-disha centres as ‘Atal Seva Kendras’ at district
headquarters.

This decision was announced by
the state’s Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar during the launch of 53 new IT
services concerning six departments on the occasion of ‘Good Governance Day’,
which is celebrated every year to mark the birthday of former Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The minister also conducted a
lucky draw of the digital transaction award scheme, which was. aimed at
promoting cashless transactions in the state. A total of 65 people were
declared winners with five winning a cash prize of Rs 10000 each, 10 winning a
prize of Rs 5000 each and 50 winning a cash prize of Rs 1000 each. All were
rewarded for actively using cashless transactions.

Key Highlights

With the introduction of the new
IT services, the residents of the villages would be able to access 170
e-services through the ‘Atal Seva Kendras’.

All the CSCs in rural areas would
be shifted to Gram Sachivalyas so that all facilities are made available to the
people under one roof.

With this, facilities available
at CSCs will also be made available at E-disha centres.

Delhi Government to slash bus fares by 75 per cent

The Delhi government has decided
to reduce the fares of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster buses by
almost 75%, starting 1 January 2017.

This move has been made in order
to encourage more people to opt for public transport. Along with this, the
government has also decided to make DTC bus travel completely free for students
till the age of 21 years.

Key Highlights

The government’s plan includes
introducing a flat fare of Rs 5 for non-AC buses and Rs 10 for AC buses on
trial basis for a month.

The new rate will be far cheaper
from the current one, which stands between Rs 10-25 for AC buses and Rs 5-15
for non-AC buses.

The rates of the monthly and
daily bus passes have also been proposed to be brought down.

The daily bus passes, which are
currently available for Rs 40 for non-AC service and Rs 50 for AC service will
be brought down to Rs 20 for one month.

The Department of Posts under the
Union Ministry of Communications on 26 December 2016 released the special stamp
on freedom fighter Gaya Prasad Katiyar.

Moreover, the government also
released a set of eight Commemorative Postage Stamps on ‘Personalities Series:
Bihar’. The postal department also launched a Commemorative Postage Stamp on
Hardayal Municipal Heritage Public Library to honor it as a one of the few
oldest library of the country.

The Ministry released the
postage stamps on these following eight personalities of Bihar:

“Indian cinema’s ‘original
Khiladi’ will make his blockbuster entry in this new role at the launch of Tata
Motors’ latest offering in commercial vehicles, slated in January 2017,” the
company said in a statement.

Tata Motors’ association with
Kumar for commercial vehicles will be supported by a multi-media campaign,
beginning in the first week of January 2017, it added.

Besides products and solutions,
he will be actively involved in a host of innovative marketing and customer
experience initiatives to be rolled out by Tata Motors.

World –

First biological pacemaker developed from human stem cells

A group of scientists from the
McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine developed the first functional
pacemaker cells from human stem cells.

The invention will help in paving
the way for alternate, biological pacemaker therapy.

The study was published in
December 2016 the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Obituaries –

Dinanath Bhargava, man who designed National Emblem, passes away

Dinanath Bhargava, the man who
designed the National Emblem, passed away on 24 December 2016 following a
prolonged illness. He was 89. He is survived by his wife and two sons.

He was the man who sketched and
illuminated the National Emblem and extracted its motto ‘Satyameva Jayate’
(Truth alone triumphs) from Mundaka Upanishad in 1948 after an extensive
research.

He ended up making the first 30
pages of the Constitution by the end of 1948.

He was also instrumental in
weaving the double decker loom and designing new Chanderi saris.

He started the carpet-making
industry in Gwalior during the time of late Congress leader Madhav Rao Scindia.

Former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake passes away

Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, former
Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, passed away on 27 December 2016 in Colombo. He was
83.

Wickremanayake served as the
Prime Minister in the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government in the year 2005.

Wickremanayake earlier held the
position of Prime Minister from August 2000 to December 2001, succeeding the
then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike.